Advice on welding helmets

[stevenson]

I bought a Sealey MIG welder sometime ago that came with helmet but I find it impossible to see the joint line while welding. The result is a weld which invariably goes off track. I was so dissappointed in the results that I thought of getting a spot welder but have been put off by reports that they are not up to much - I also wonder where I'd get 20Amps from without continually tripping the house electrics!

So I'm prepared to give MIG another go. I read you can get safety glass with a 'gold' tint which reflects some of the glare and so does not have to be so dark, allowing you to see what you are doing.

What are your recommendations please? What about auto dark helmets, which have come down in price. Are they any good?

Pete

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum.

Auto dark helmets are miles better than manual flippable ones, but dark glass is dark glass so you could still have the same problems, although you can adjust the opacity of auto helmets.

A couple of ways round the problem :- increase the ambient lighting and/or draw a line in French chalk alongside where you want the weld.

 

[Porschemaniac]

Hello Stevenson - and welcom to the Forum, also.

Someone did suggest to me that you can also mark the weld line with a UV marker. The theory is that it fluoresces with the UV being generated by the weld.

Never tried this myself, but I can see how it could work.

I used to have similar problems to the one that you describe and, as rtbcomp says, an auto-dark helmet improved things enromously.

In my experience, the masks that come free with welders have quite a dark shade glass in them (probably manufacturers defaulting to the strongest filtration to avoid personal injury claims). So you could even try switching to a slightly lower shade glass for a cheaper solution. Having said that, never go below a shade 9 glass for safety reasons.

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[pinghenglin505]

I think i learn more about welding helmet.

 

[PTvor]

Welding glass shades are standardised and part of the standard is a table suggesting which shade to use for each welding process and current. If you are using a high shade number (14 or 15) intended for currents around 400A, you won't see a lot if you are welding with more usual currents below 200A.

The table is included in the product manual linked below, on the last page.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSu7zK1fslxtUn8_SOxtvev7qe17zHvTSevTSeSSSSSS--

There's a bit of wriggle room in the table but you should approximately match the shade of the filter to what you are doing. Filters are pretty much consumables anyway and are not very expensive.

Autodark helmets are a magical invention and it's well worth getting one.

Dunno about the helmet which came with the Sealey, but generally the handshields which come with welders are too flimsy to stand much use.

 

[outofthefire]

Auto dark helmets are great but I still like my Jackson Shadow which has a really large lens (pretty much the whole of the front of the helmet) I used a shade 9 at home. A desk lamp or two pointed at your work really helps. Also get yourself comfortable sit down if you can and rest your elbows or forearms on the bench and steady the torch with your left hand (if your right handed) then practice, the more you weld the more relaxed and confident you become and you start to see more.

 

[chunkolini]

It looks mad but try fixing a really bright LED head torch to your welding helmet, brilliant for working in dark nooks and crannies. It works best with the light fitted on the chin piece

You look like some kind of inverted cybercyclops, scares snotty nosed kids to death.

Chunko'.

 

[Paul.]

It looks mad but try fixing a really bright LED head torch to your welding helmet, brilliant for working in dark nooks and crannies. It works best with the light fitted on the chin piece

You look like some kind of inverted cybercyclops, scares snotty nosed kids to death.

Chunko'.

You can buy them from welding suppliers here's an Esab one
Round about a fiver, some pound shops have similar ones too.